Don't Fuck With A Spirit Board
by Nekoyaz
Summary: Lovino despises his job at the toy store but it's all he has until his photography career takes off. One day a bunch of snot nosed brats abandon a Ouija board on the floor and all hell breaks loose. Literally.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

"Where are the pianos?"

"Right this way ma'am."

Why would you buy instruments at a toy store? There was a perfectly good music store on the other side of the mall! I led the lady and her brats towards the back of the store where the mini instruments were. Once the creatures were set loose onto the toys, I turned to head back to stocking shelves. Passing the board games aisle, I heard giggling and shrieks.

"Hey! What are you idiots doing?!" A group of kids were crouched on the floor around a game board and at my words, they took off running.

"Stop! Get back here! You're going to pay for this!" By the time I made it to the end of the aisle they were out the front door. Damn it. Now I had to repackage everything and go find the price reduction stickers.

I went back to clean up their mess. The packaging didn't have any plastic wrap or tears so maybe I could just put it all back and no one would notice. I reached for the game board and froze when I saw the numbers and letters. A Ouija board. I'd never touched one before but I remembered specifically as a child that Nonno told us to never use one. It was a window to the other side where spirits and demons could pass through. I wonder if it really works. I folded the board and tossed it and the triangle piece in the box. No way was I going to evoke demons and shit. Fuck that. I put the box back on the shelf.

AN: I'm going to try something I've never done before but I've seen other fic writer do. I'm going to post short pieces multiple times a week and see if that's easier for me than writing long chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred was in charge of lockup so I grabbed my coat and left when my shift was over. I fucking hated this damn job. Couldn't wait until my photography career took off. For now I was doing portraits of people's pets and giving out free photoshoots to cosnerds to get my name out there. I should count myself lucky. My "anger problem" had lost me many better jobs and it was a miracle I was here this long.

I unlocked the door to the basement. My brother's husband, Ludwig, had offered me it for a deal too good to pass up when I couldn't afford my own place. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to share it with His deadbeat brother, Gilbert. I made fun of that loser for so many years but we came full circle. Now my ass was a deadbeat brother. At least I contributed to society. Count my blessings.

Gilbert was asleep on the couch with a bottle of beer spilled all over himself. How someone on rock bottom could continue to sink lower amazed me every time. I continued to the little room that I'd turned into a makeshift apartment. I had my own mini-fridge, microwave, and two eyed mini stove. That potato with eyes wasn't eating my food and I wasn't going to beg my brother to use his kitchen. The only thing I really had to share with Gilbert was the bathroom. And of course the entrance. I hung my uniform shirt up and passed out.

I missed the notification noise of my phone.


	3. Chapter 3

I was running late. No time to shower. I threw on my uniform haphazardly and ran out. Gilbert was still on the couch but now he was supine. I paid him no attention as I rushed out and climbed on my bike. Fucking shit. I needed a car. Should I call in? No, I could make it. Maybe no one would notice.

Calves burning, I locked my bike to a tree and entered the employee entrance. I signed myself in on the computer. I was only two minutes late. It didn't count! I could breathe easy now. I left the staff room to enter the toy store. It was dark. Shit! Was it my turn to open?! I flipped on the lights and I went to the front. I saw a few customers peering in through the locked sliding glass door. Damn it. I opened the store and started my day.

An hour passed before I realized no one else showed up. Who was on schedule for now? I checked. Alfred and me. Well it was a Tuesday morning. Not much business this shift. After I rang up the one customer in the store's items, I pulled my phone out to call him. A text message was waiting for me. It was from Alfred. "A ghost has me trapped on the Barbie aisle SEND HELP" This was from last night.


	4. Chapter 4

Alfred could be a huge dumbass but this was on another level. I marched toward the bright pink aisle, my impatience growing. There was no one. Nothing was amiss.

"Lovino."

What the fuck?! I still saw no one. Moving down the aisle, I scanned the shelves for a phone or a speaker in case this was a dumb prank. I was just walking past the doll houses when I felt something touch my leg. An arm extended from the shelf. I did what any intelligent person would do. I ran like a bitch.

"Hey! Wait!" That was Alfred's voice.

Sure enough the rest of him followed his arm and voice as he rolled off of the second from the bottom shelf, taking a whole row of houses and mini furniture with him.

"That was a dick move, you asshat!"

"I was hiding from the ghosts!"

Alfred explained what he thought happened while I supervised him clean up the mess he'd made. Apparently toys started moving on action figures aisle and Alfred at first thought it was a Small Soldiers deal until he thought he heard voices calling his name. Then he thought he saw a ghost lady. That was enough for me to go back to my station at the cash registers and ignore him searching for ghosts until my shift was over.


	5. Chapter 5

It was my day off. So, after lazing around for half the day, I grabbed my camera and went out. The air was starting to warm. After a nasty winter, it was a relief. I couldn't stand the cold. It was that perfect few weeks before it became muggy and raining and all the bugs crawled back out of hell. The sun was out for once, shinning weakly. I set up in a park I frequented. There weren't a lot of people but I preferred it that way. I noticed some small birds pecking at the hard ground for left over seeds the squirrels had missed. I aimed my camera on its tripod and snapped a few pictures. I didn't really have a target today, so I just shot whatever caught my interest. When I later reviewed these, most of them would be deleted. But it was nice to get out.

Eventually I had to go back to that basement. Back to that fucking shit hole. I had to get ready for work tomorrow. I never wanted to be a slave to a job when I was younger. I picked my passion in college and pursued photography and an art degree. Without connections it had been even harder than everyone told me to find work. I didn't have time to sit around and wait for a call back. I had student loans and bills to pay. If younger me could see me now.


	6. Chapter 6

I was closing today. Liz was working the register while I stocked. Stocking wasn't that bad. Usually the only time I had to talk to people was when they asked me where something was. Half the time I would just say a random aisle number so I wouldn't have to walk around helping them look. It was a bit tedious but time passed quickly.

I was placing vintage tins of wooden blocks up on the shelf when I heard something crash to my side. One of the tins had fallen out the shipping box they arrived in and spilled out all over the floor. Fuck me. I grumbled under my breath as I crouched down to start cleaning it up. The tin had a scratch so I had to get the price reduction stickers. I stood up to grab some off of the cart and attached one to the top of the tin lid before I could forget about it. I just knew some angry old lady or basement dwelling collector would have words on a shift I was working the register.

I reached to collect the rest of the blocks but froze. The blocks had moved from where they'd randomly fallen and clearly spelled out "FEED ME" Fuck that.

"Liz! You need to stop messing around! I expect this shi-stuff," I glanced around to see if any children with parents were around, "from Alfred but not you!"

I got no response so I went directly to the registers to confront her only to see no one there. I glanced at the doors to see the open side of the sign facing me. It was after closing. She had gone home.


	7. Chapter 7

I locked the doors just in case some idiots ignored the closed sign and went back to finish picking up the blocks. I mixed up the words in the blocks and spelled "FUCK YOU" before putting them back in the tin. I next went for the broom, mop, and mop bucket. It was silent in the store besides the music loop of family friendly pop that constantly played in the background and the clank of my lifting the giant broom up to make another pass on the floor.

I was mopping my way toward the back of the store so I could put the mop and bucket back and walkout the employee exit without disturbing the clean floor when I heard footsteps. They sounded like they were just on the other aisle. Heavy boot steps. Did I forget to lock the front?

"We're closed! Come back at 9 am."

There was no response. It must have been my imagination. I went back to mopping. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could leave. I dropped the mop into the bucket and turned to roll it to the closet but out of the corner of my eye I spotted a shadow standing next to one of the displays. I whipped back around to see no one there. Okay, time to get my ass out of here. I wrung out the mop, dumped the water, and quickly locked the employee exit behind me.


	8. Chapter 8

I was woken by my phone vibrating against my desk. I must have forgotten to turn it on airplane mode before crashing. I groaned into my pillow. I wasn't supposed to go in until 2. I expected to get to sleep until at least 9 before I graced everyone with my presence. I was going to ignore it and go back to sleep when it started vibrating again. I rolled out of bed to snatch it up.

"What?!"

"Good morning to you too, dude."

"I don't care who's sick I'm not coming in until 2."

"It's not that. You closed right?"

"Yeah."

"Did you remember to lock the door when you left?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course I did. What's wrong?"

"Someone broke in last night"

"Oh shit! Did they steal anything?"

"I'm not sure. The place was vandalized though. Ivan was mad as heck when he came in."

Ivan was the owner and head manager of our individual store and our only contact with upper management in the small toy store chain. He was generally a cheery guy but when he wasn't happy, no one was happy.

"Damn. Guess I got that to look forward to tonight. What kind of vandalism we talking?"

"Someone took all the toys off the shelves, pushed the shelves against a wall, and then threw the toys in one big stack at another wall. I think it's the ghost from the other day."

AN: I hope Romano isn't coming out more like Squidward than Romano.


	9. Chapter 9

Because of the vandalism the store was closed but employees still had to come in and help clean up. None of the toys were damaged. Merely gently placed in even stacks in one large pile. It was a task that had to have been completed by a group of people otherwise it would have taken most of the night. There were no witnesses and the cameras in the store malfunctioned right after I left and still weren't working. As we took stock of everything we found nothing missing. The police said couldn't do anything without significant evidence or anything really stolen or damaged. They laughed it off as the work of bored teens. Which left nothing but work for us.

When Ivan personally interrogated me I mentioned hearing the footsteps only to find no one. Because of that, when we closed, we now had to search the whole store to make sure delinquents weren't hiding anywhere. Alfred was still convinced it was ghosts and would tell anyone who came near him about it. I just rolled my eyes and went back to putting toys back on the shelves. It was a hell of a lot of work but we managed to get everything back in place enough for Ivan to be satisfied. The store would open tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

As the weeks passed leading up to summer nothing else really strange happened besides the occasional toy falling off a shelf or strange laughter but I just blamed dumb kids that played around in the aisles unchaperoned. The days mostly passed in a blur. The only change in my routine was the upcoming summer and the promise of photography jobs.

There were several nerd conventions not far from where I lived and it was wedding season. I hoped that some poor bastards would hire me because I'm cheap. So far I had a few returning cosplayers who booked with me again even though there were still a couple of weeks before the first con. I was gaining a reputation. Maybe this time I could offer to do prints and more than the set number of shots for a little cash.

I mentioned this to Alfred and Toris while we were setting up for the day. Toris asked for a few of my business cards to give to some of his eccentric friends and Alfred of course had an Alfred response.

"You should take pictures around here to see if you catch our ghost."

AN: To "Lovi" your comment made me laugh really fuckin hard. That would be the predictable ending wouldn't it.


	11. Chapter 11

"Why would I do that?"

"Pleeeeeaaase!"

"It's going to cost you for the film and time."

"If I can watch then we have a deal."

Alfred grabbed my hand and shook my arm violently. Toris chuckled from behind the counter. I rolled my eyes and went to my register. I would never admit it but it did sound kind of fun to take ghost pictures. It was a new skill I could add to my repertoire. I would have to research the best way to capture ghosts. I didn't think our store was haunted but I did believe in spirits. As children Nonno told my brother and I way too many stories of exorcisms and hauntings, of demon possessions and works of the devil.


	12. Chapter 12

Liz was closing tonight but it didn't take much bribing to get her to let us have free run of the store after the last customer left. I brought two types of camera with me. Digital and cheap disposable film. Different sources told me ghosts could be caught with any camera but several told me only film. I set my camera on a tripod and took several pictures of the same location. I took more on digital but made sure to take at least 3 with film for each spot. I made my way around the building slowly. Alfred talked my ear off the whole time asking about what I was doing. I finally told him that if he shut his mouth, I'd let him review the film with me. I was given blissful silence until I started packing up.

Liz got out the broom and Alfred helped her clean while I packed my equipment carefully away. I would use the better part of my day off tomorrow going through everything. I wasn't sure if I wanted to catch anything or not. On one hand it would be a great accomplishment but on the other hand I had to fucking work here and I didn't need ghosts and shit trying to get my ass.

AN: I know very little about photography but have several friends who dabble in it. I'm lucky if I can get a decent selfie.


	13. Chapter 13

I gave Alfred a flash drive with a few dozen of the digital images to review and took his money and the film to the drug store to pay to have it developed. I missed the days of cheap little kiosks everywhere that developed your pictures in a few hours. It wouldn't be until tomorrow that I could pick the pictures up. I could have developed them myself but one I'm lazy and two beer for blood probably would have walked in and destroyed them.

Once I got home I started looking through the other pictures. A few came out really nice. Like pictures from an ad. Like if I saw this picture of this giant child sized Spiderman in an ad and had crotch fruit, I'd buy that shit in a flash. When I came to the pictures I took of the aisle that had the block tins, I paid close attention. In each of the pictures the tins looked the same. Nothing there. I was about to click to the next set of pictures when I noticed one of the game boxes was turned towards the camera.

I went back to the other pictures and the board game was back in its usual place. I zoomed in as far as I could to try to see it better and felt a chill. I had only seen it the one time but I would recognize that faux wooden Hasbro box anywhere. I could just make out the word "Ouija" in large letters across the front.

AN: Happy Thanksgiving. You're welcome


	14. Chapter 14

I went to email Alfred the pictures only to see several emails from him. From the all caps headings I could only assume he had found something. I went down to the first email he sent and clicked on it.

"DUDEEEEEEEEEEE"

There was a set of 5 pictures near the Barbie aisle. In the first picture nothing looked amiss. But in the second, I could see what looked like the shadow of a hand come around the corner of the shelf. In the third, there was the outline of a person peering around the corner. In the 4th and 5th, everything was back to normal. I went back to the 3rd image to examine the shadow. It was just the hand, arm, shoulder, and head. On the head there appeared to be some lumpy shape. It took me a few moments to realize it was a bun. I noticed how slender the arm was. A woman.


	15. Chapter 15

I marked the email as important so I could easily find it later and went to read Alfred's other emails. They were just things like "Check your email!1!" "Dude come one!" "Wake up!" I attached the set of photos I'd found and sent them to him. It was barely five minutes before he responded.

"Duuueuduuududue! I'm wearing a cross tomorrow I STG!"

"Fucking chill. We still haven't looked at the film pictures."

"I bet there's even more on THERE OMG!"

"Do you know if we've sold any Ouija boards recently?"

"No, but doubt it. They only really sell around Halloween."

So there was a chance that was the same board those kids were playing with that day. Who knew what they were doing with it. They could have been summoning demons and shit. I would never know unless the fuckers came back to the store. And even then I couldn't remember their generic shitty faces.

An: Congrats to the Hetalia fandom. We have officially surpassed Inuyasha for number of fanfics on this website. As much as I love Inuyasha, I love Hetalia more.


	16. Chapter 16

On the way to work, I picked up the prints. We could look at them during our down time. When I entered the store it was quiet. Too quiet. Was I too early? Was I supposed to open this morning and forgot? Fuck me! I walked to the front of the store and found that the doors were already unlocked and the sign was flipped. Where was everyone?

Maybe whoever opened was sleeping among the toys somewhere. It had happened before. We used to have a guy who would go fall asleep on the stuffed animals almost every day. Needless to say he didn't last long. I was making my way to the big bin with the stuffed animals that would make an amazing bed when I heard whispers.

I followed the whispers to the games aisle to find Alfred and Toris sitting on the floor with a game out. What the fuck. Alfred can be a huge idiot but Toris? As I grew closer to them I recognized the board with letters and numbers. They couldn't be this stupid?! We already had a fucking ghost. We didn't need any more of this shit.

"What the fuck do you two think you're doing?!"

Alfred gave a shrill scream before leaping away from the board and turning to see it was only me. He clutched his chest while taking hard breaths and babbling incoherently. Toris on the other hand laughed from his place on the floor, his hands still on the plastic pointer.


	17. Chapter 17

After I forced them to clean everything up and get to work, the day went by without any problems. When I had my first break, I handed Alfred and Toris a piece of the stack of photos to look at when it was their turn. I sat at the table in the break room and started flipping through my stack. It was a bit more difficult than with digital. I couldn't manipulate the lighting or zoom in if I couldn't see something clearly enough. I also didn't have a number filename so if I dropped some pictures they were mixed the fuck up.

I was about to go back to work when I came across a photo that caused shivers to go down my spine. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The shelves in the store didn't have a wall between the two sides so if you wanted, you could push the toys aside and converse with someone on the other aisle. In this picture between the toys you could clearly see a person standing in the next aisle. They were facing the camera. Looking directly at me when I took the picture. Their green eyes glowed in the flash. I knew for a fact that no one was on that aisle when I took this.

AN: I see some predictions in the comments. Just wait and see. I don't like to be predictable but damn it you're right. They will show up. Just not how you'd expect. This might be giving too much away.


	18. Chapter 18

I felt as if those eyes followed me as I brought the pictures with me to show the others. I kept my eyes downcast at the floor so I wouldn't see the eyes looking at me through the shelves as I walked past them. I didn't even want to see them out of the corner of my eye. I kept telling myself it was my imagination that I could feel them. If I ignored them it wasn't real. Alfred grew quiet when he saw my face. I handed him the pictures and didn't say a word.

"Holy shit! Toris! Toris! Look at this!"

The woman Toris was helping gave Alfred a dirty look for using swears around her child. After she left, Toris came over to look.

"Sweet Jesus! It's so clear. You can see his hair right there. Which aisle do you think this is?"

They debated over the aisle before running off to try and reenact where the thing had been standing. I didn't want to go back over there for fear of seeing the eyes. I could admit I was afraid. There was something very dark about that figure. I said a prayer before taking up my place behind a register.

AN: I'm going ghost hunting in one of the most haunted places in my state tomorrow. I will report in the next chapter what happens and I might use some of it for story fodder. I actually used something that happened to me when I wrote this chapter. The fear of seeing the shadow man makes me keep my eyes down when I'm babysitting at a haunted house.


	19. Chapter 19

Alfred thought he found something a few times in some of the other pictures but we debunked them all. So far our most valid evidence was the man in the other aisle. Toris suggested we show Ivan but I immediately threw that out. We could get in trouble if he knew we took pictures of his store without his permission. The fuck my ass was gonna get fined. No sir.

"Do you guys feel creeped out knowing there's stuff in here?"

"Duh! I'm terrified!"

Alfred's excited expression said otherwise. The man could barely contain himself. I on the other hand no longer felt safe here. I couldn't just up and quit though. I had bills to pay and with my track record with jobs, it wasn't that easy to just get another. I had to be brave.

AN: We didn't see or catch anything that we know of (We haven't reviewed all the pictures and recordings yet) but we thought we heard voices and movement in the woods around us. We can't say for sure if it was animals or not so a bit disappointed. Expect a new chapter in a couple of hours when it's technically tomorrow.


	20. Chapter 20

"Hey, potato fucker. Your brother is getting belligerent."

Ludwig's stony expression changed to one of exhaustion. My brother's husband followed me down to the basement where Gilbert was currently smashing empty alcohol bottles against one wall and yelling in German. Usually Gilbert was a happy drunk or a sad drunk. Occasionally he got in a fighting mood but never had I seen him so violent. Ludwig tried to subdue his older brother but the man continued to scream harsh angry words at the wall.

"What's wrong with him?"

My brother, Feli, had come to investigate. The noise was loud enough to reach the rest of the house. He looked frightened.

"He's just drunk off his ass."

"Please go back upstairs, Feli. You don't need to see this."

I agreed with Ludwig for once. Feli wasn't good in these kinds of situations. I turned him back and led him upstairs with promises of helping him make us all a nice dinner. Before I closed the door behind me I heard Gilbert yell in English.

"Get out of my house! The green eyes won't stop looking at me!"


	21. Chapter 21

I wasn't a devout catholic but I said a prayer for protection before I passed out that night. Gilbert had finally settled down to weeping after his episode. I knew he was just a drunk seeing things but his comment about the green eyes haunted me. I didn't want to even think about it.

I mentioned what happened to Alfred when I got to work the next day. Instead of being creeped out the fool was jealous. That the damn ghosts wanted to follow my ass home. He could have em.

"All the ghosts in this whole damn place listen. Follow this dumb ass home next time. He wants you there."

"Don't say that!"

"Oh but weren't you saying how cool it is and how you wished you were there?"

"Yeah but that's different."

"You should put salt in the windows and doorways."

Liz spoke up from her register. I would be mad that she was eavesdropping but any conversation with Alfred was never private.

"Why the fu-frick would I do that?" The man buying his daughter a Frozen plushie at my register looked like he wanted to hit me. Fuckin fight me old man.

"It's what they do on Supernatural."

"Oh so from your shitty make believe show."

Liz was a huge fangirl who liked anything that possibly had gay men in it. Her advice was discarded. I couldn't really prove I had a ghost following me home anyway. It was just Gilbert's drunken words.

AN: In response to some comments: It def can't be Greece. Remember in a past chapter where I mentioned how an employee liked to go fall asleep on the stuffed animals and got quickly fired? That was his cameo for the fic. Also y'all can't control me! Lol but no, I have the ending all planned out. And I'm not going to spoil it by giving you hints either.


	22. Chapter 22

From all the big talk Alfred gave pretty much daily, he was definitely terrified of the store. When it was his turn to close, he practically begged me to stay with him. I finally agreed that I would stick around but told him not to expect me to lift a finger to help. I watched him do the mandatory sweep of the whole store looking for hiding delinquents as he locked up. We now knew it was probably ghosts but it was policy. I sat on the counter as the chatterbox swept with the giant broom.

"And so then my friend, Kiku, sniped the guy from like 500 feet away!"

"This is a video game right?"

"Yeah and then we took on this whole team of-"

Alfred paused and looked back at me.

"What?"

"Did you just call my name?"

"No"

Alfred's eyes grew wide and he climbed behind the counter I was sitting on. The fuck I was gonna stay up there by myself. I swung my legs over and pulled myself down next to him. I wasn't sure why we were hiding but if mega white boy was hiding so would I.

"Alfred."

A whisper echoed through the store causing both of us to jump. Before I knew it, I had a grown ass man practically in my lap. In any other situation I would have made a shitty comment about how we looked like Shaggy and Scooby. If I had any doubts before, they were gone.

"Alfie please."

At that Alfred pulled himself up and peaked over the top of the counter. I looked too and saw nothing. Luckily the lights were still on or I'd be pissing myself right now. If anything else happened, I was gone. Alfred could investigate on his own.

"Mattie?!"

Alfred whispered, or what was surely a whisper for him, in response. We heard nothing else for several moments. Alfred sank back down to the floor and broke out in tears.


	23. Chapter 23

"You remember when Tony Hawk was big? And like everyone wanted to do BMX?"

"Barely. I didn't give a rat's ass about that stuff."

"Well I was a sk8r boy and being like Tony was my dream. I was always trying to learn different tricks on my board and bike. I used to be a daredevil."

"Used to be? Hmmm!"

"Well my twin brother, Mathew, was a bit of a tech nerd. He recorded my stunt videos for me and we would post them online. I think the website we used no longer exists."

Alfred chuckled a bit to himself. He was probably remembering what an idiot I'm sure he was as a child.

"We were about 12 when it happened. I was going to grind down this huge stair case railing like I saw other guys doing. Mattie was set up down at the end across the street. I started a ways back and by the time I got to the railing, it was too late to back out. I got up on the railing and actually stuck the landing! Before I could even come to a stop, I got shoved off my board. I hit my head on the concrete and came to with an EMT dude over me."

He paused for a few moments. His breathing shaky.

"I went back and watched the footage. Mat was yelling at me to stop and that a truck was coming, but I couldn't hear him. After the stairs, I kept going out into the street because I was going too fast to stop at the side walk. We planned for that though. Mattie was supposed to give me the thumbs up when the road was clear but I was impatient. If I had just waited for the thumbs up-"

I awkwardly patted his back. I had no idea what to do.

"I haven't touched a board since."

"How do you know it's your brother?"

"Only Mattie calls me Alfie."

AN: I decided it would be cruel not to give you guy's answers. Again it's not what you think. But keep throwing predictions and theories at me. I like seeing what everyone thinks is going to happen.


	24. Chapter 24

I couldn't believe those idiots talked me into this. I was sitting on the floor in the fucking dark holding the flashlight. Alfred and Toris had that same damn Ouija board out and were setting up. After reading the instructions this time, they started. I just held that damn flashlight. The fuck I was gonna touch that shit.

"Ouija are you there?"

They chanted this 7 times while moving the pointer in circles before finally stopping.

"Is there anyone there?"

Alfred designated himself the medium the second we all agreed to this. Good. Let his ass get possessed. Alfred asked this question a few more times and waited.

"According to the thing, it says it might take a while for it to work. That's what we messed up on the other time. We gotta do it right this time."

"Well it's not like we can rehaunt the store."

"I'd like to speak with Mattie if he's there."

We stared at the pointer, still not moving.

"Out of all the shit that keeps happening, the damn thing chooses not to work."

The pointer started slowly moving. So slowly it was almost unnoticeable. I swear it took like 5 minute to get to each letter before it finally stopped.

"A. L."

"Mattie?! Are you there?"

The pointer went to yes very very slowly.

"One of you has to be pushing it."

"No! My hands are barely touching it!"

"I've been practically hovering over it this whole time."

I watched their hands carefully as Alfred asked the next question.

"Why are you here, Mattie?"

Their hands were barely on the planchette as it glided across the board. It took almost 20 minutes to complete its message. I wrote the letters down, as it momentarily paused over them, on a notepad while holding the flashlight with the other hand.

"KEEP AL SAFE."

AN: To the person who said they think it's Liet, I hope you know Toris is his human name and he's been a character this whole time.


	25. Chapter 25

"I think it would look best over here, yes?"

Today Ivan decided we needed to update the layout of the store. My noodle arms were forced to do heavy lifting as "delicate little Liz" got to be at the register. Fuck sexism. She beat Alfred at arm wrestling last week. She could push this whole shelf by herself without removing the toys. It was just me helping Ivan all by myself until the next shift. That bastard is a fucking bear but it was destroying me trying to keep up. After we moved around the shelves, Ivan left me alone to build new displays. Putting my art degree to good use he said.

I had boxes of new toys as well as ones we took off the shelves that were going to be on sale. I started creating a little summer scene of toys at the beach in one corner. It was made of the mitch match old toys. I had plans to build a rainbow out of multicolored assortment of dolls in the new boxes. I was just planning how to form the arch when I felt goosebumps on my arms. I felt a breath on my neck right as a woman's voice whispers explosively in my ear.

"FEED ME."

AN: So it's official. I'm getting a Ouija board for Christmas. I'll probably just use it to scare my brothers with since the little assholes will push the planchette around. Also, Guest, you're almost too close for comfort.


	26. Chapter 26

The SciFi convention was only an hour's drive from home. I borrowed Feli's car and rode up for the day. I had at least a dozen appointments and I was planning on doing walk ins. I was still doing free shoots so I hoped to make about $100 this weekend from extra shots and special prints and to get more customers for the next con. Luckily for me the con was near a scenic park so I didn't even have to blow money on a badge.

Once there, I set up and went about my day. I received several calls and texts from Alfred but I ignored them as I worked. I did not want to hear about some spooky shit that happened in the store while I was trying to focus. It wasn't until it started getting dark and I was driving home that I listened to my voicemails and there were quite a many. The first few were just things like "Call me back." Then Alfred started telling a story and when he ran out of words, he'd call again and continue where he left off. He told me about how nothing was really going on but he had this one friend who knew a guy, who knew a guy, who dated a girl, who was some guy's sister, who hated this other guy who was a medium.

So far Alfred hadn't really done anything but get the guy's number. He was thinking about spending his next paycheck to get this guy to come check out our store. So we could find out exactly what was there. Besides Mathew. And he wanted to know if I could chip in anything. This fool was going to blindly pay some hack to come pretend to feel it in our store. I called him back immediately to tell him how stupid this idea was.

AN: We found out my brother is most likely getting stationed in S Korea so I've been dealing with my mom the past few days. Updates might be slow up to Christmas unless I suddenly find myself up at 3 am in the writing spirit.


	27. Chapter 27

Alfred is a grown ass man. He may not act like it but he is old enough to make his own decisions, even if they are in fact very dumb. I watched as he walked in on his day off with a guy I've never seen before. Please tell me that's not who I think it is. The guy cringed almost the second he stepped foot through the doors.

"This is the guy I was telling you about. Say hi, Arthur."

"There is quite a lot happening here. Shall we get started?"

Arthur rubbed his arms as if he was cold. Rude bitch. Well, at least it would be a show. I rolled my eyes after they turned and started walking around the store.

AN: I tried automatic writing the other day and talked to a dead French guy.


	28. Chapter 28

I couldn't hear them from my place at the register but Alfred looked serious while he was listening to whatever the psychic was saying. I was sadly disappointed as his head didn't start owling and he didn't fake a seizure. He must be giving Alfred those mystic bs one liners about energies. Without even coming back to speak to me or really doing anything besides talk, Arthur just walked out of the store. Alfred came over practically bouncing.

"So what did he say?"

"Mattie is my guardian and watches over me. Also we have like a bunch of ghosts and a few demons in here!"

"Uh huh. And how much is he charging?"

"Nothing! He said this place is a public hazard. He's going to come back later. He said the energy is stronger at night."

AN: Someone asked about my AN from the last chapter and no that's not part of the story. I irl talked to a dead French guy. Also last night I talked to a guy who died a mile down the road and drowned. We looked up the news article and it gave the right age but the article didn't include his name so I can't confirm. I might start a blog for my paranormal experiences.


	29. Chapter 29

It was unusually foggy. By this time, the sun was definitely up but it was hidden by the over cast clouds. I brought a poncho with me in case it started raining. So far there was only fog. The ride to work was fairly peaceful. The early to work crowd was already through and I was ahead of the 9 to 5ers. Kids were out for the summer and lucky for them still in their beds. I took the scenic route as I was running way too early this morning. I chose to cut through the park towards the mall, enjoying the singing birds and crazed squirrels. The fog was undisturbed and thicker here. Scooby could cut it with a saw and eat it.

I felt a wave of nausea once I was under the trees. I had to stop pedaling to try and reign it in. I couldn't be sick. Food poisoning? No way, I only ate my food. Was the milk bad? A feeling of being watched caused me to glance over my shoulder. No one. I looked back ahead and thought I saw someone duck behind a tree. This early in the morning it could still be drug dealers or homeless people left over from the night. I did not need my ass mugged. I ignored the nausea and started pedaling again. I passed the tree and glanced over to see no one behind the tree.

As I got closer to work, I still felt sick and the feeling of being watched. I tried to push through it and just get there. When I walked into the store, I almost had to double take. Alfred was looking the most miserable I'd ever seen him. When I was signing in, he dragged his drained looking ass over.

"Do you feel sick too?"

AN: Merry Christmas! Also I just started a paranormal blog where I share true stories if anyone wants to read about some of the stuff I've briefly mentioned. It's called playingwiththeunknown on tumblr.


	30. Chapter 30

"Arthur said there's something really bad happening here that's making us feel sick."

The feeling of nausea had since passed. The store was clear as customers had also felt the feeling. Alfred was fresh off the phone with the psychic.

"Is he going to do an exorcism or some shit?"

"I think so maybe. He wasn't like specific per say but he sounded like he was gonna do something. Should we be talking about this in here? What if the ghosts hear?"

"The ghosts can bite me. They know what's coming. They aren't welcome here. That talking eyebrow is gonna kick them the fuck out."

We were getting these fucking freeloaders out of here. It was either them or me and jobs weren't so easy for me to come by so it would have to be them. They could go haunt the damn kids who were playing with the board in the first place. Teach the brats not to fuck around with the dead.

AN: Happy New Years y'all.


	31. Chapter 31

Arthur would be by after the store closed to do whatever it was Alfred thought he was going to do. So I went about my day as usual. I was putting misplaced toys back where they belonged since it was a slow day. People liked to just toss toys wherever when they randomly decided they didn't want them. I was guilty of it myself in other stores but that didn't stop me from complaining. I was pulling Monster High dolls out of the Barbie section when I felt a tug at the hem of my untucked shirt. (Ivan could fight me. Only nerds and old white people tuck in tshirts) I turned to see a serious looking little girl. Her eyes were so dark I couldn't see the pupils.

"Can I help you? Did you lose your mommy or something?"

"If the brujo comes back, I will kill him."

"Excuse me? What the fu-french fry did you just say?"

"Do not anger me. There will be hell to pay."

"Okay, little girl. You need to stop being creepy."

"You have been warned, mi tesoro."

The little girl's eyes rolled into her head and she fainted. I was just able to catch her before she face planted onto the concrete floor. What in the fuck.

AN:

Brujo: Male witch

Mi Tesoro: My treasure


	32. Chapter 32

"Should I warn Arthur?"

"Since he's so damn psychic he should already know."

"Yeah but he can at least come in guns ablaze or well holy water ablaze. Or whatever he's gonna do."

"Do whatever you want. I'm still trying to decide if I want to just go home and let you deal with this. That was creepy as all hell."

"I'm calling Arthur."

Alfred ducked out of the building so the spirits couldn't hear his conversation while I manned the register. Liz went home the second her shift was over per usual. She didn't need to be involved with this anyways.

"Arthur said it's worse than he thought. He said it's super dangerous that there's all these entities in an area with high child energy. Like he was saying kids are susceptible to suggestion and possession and that little girl probably had something in her. "

"That's so fucking creepy. If I didn't have bills due, I'd say fuck it and never step foot in this place again."

"Didn't you say Gil saw something in your basement?"

"Yeah but he was drunk."

"What if some of them follow you home? I know Mattie follows me home."

"Thanks now I'm not sleeping tonight."


	33. Chapter 33

AN: I posted 2 chapters at once. Don't skip 32 by accident.

When Arthur arrived he didn't have a bottle of holy water nor a crucifix. I offered him mine but he declined. Instead he pulled out a shell, a feather, and a bottle of some herbs. Alfred and I stood back to give him some space as he poured the stuff from the bottle onto the shell and lit it on fire. I was just waiting for the fire alarm to go off. If some burnt hot dogs in the employee microwave could set it off, this shit surely would.

But it didn't. Arthur wafted the smoke about with the feather and appeared to be muttering something. It definitely wasn't in English. Alfred followed him around the store while I stayed up front. That shit stunk anyway.

"This will dissuade all the minor spirits from sticking around. It's to purify the area and make it clean."

"And what about the demon that can fucking possess people?"

"No, it won't do anything about that one. But I can at least focus all my time on him."

"What about Mattie?"

"He will still be around you. He's a spirit of the Sun."

AN: I'm graduating from fucking college in a week yall.


	34. Chapter 34

"Then the Hat Man leaned over me and touched my head! I screamed for like 20 minutes."

"It was a dream. You had too much to drink earlier."

"No! It was real! I couldn't move a muscle!"

I opened and closed the door loudly to let Ludwig know I was there. They were standing in the middle of our shared space.

"You won't believe what just happened!"

Oh but I would.


	35. Chapter 35

(AN: I posted 2 chapters at once)

There's a certain level of rachet you are allowed to achieve after 6 AM but before 12 PM. Gilbert somehow managed to surpass that level every hour of the day. How his drunkard ass wasn't fired yet blew my fucking mind. Right now he was face down on the floor with his pants down and an hour late for his job. I stepped over him on my way out the door.

Somehow the idiot was seeing things. All I know is it better stop. That talking eyebrow supposedly made all the scary shit leave. I didn't feel the need to look over my shoulder every single second on the way to work. So that was good.

When I entered the toy store, everything seemed normal. Liz manned the register. Customers moved up and down the aisles in search of toys to placate their brats for a couple of hours.

An: I forgot to post another chapter the other day so here's two.


	36. Chapter 36

"I hate you. You're such a burden."

My brother stood over me with his face contorted in anger. Never before had I seen his eyes filled with such hate.

"Why are you doing this, Feli?!"

"What? Telling the truth? You tried so hard to get out of our house and yet you wasted 4 years of your life for a useless degree and here you are again. Did you think I'd let you mooch off of me forever? You're so stupid!"

"Feli, stop it!"

"Hahaha!"

His laughter went from his usual dopey giggle to something deep and horrifying. I woke with a shout covered in my own sweat. Ew. I rolled out of bed and made my way into the living room. For once the couch was clear. It was no doubt covered in the remnants of vomit. I threw a towel across the cushions and turned on the TV. It was a dumb dream but damn did it shake me. Mostly because it was true.

Things had mostly gone back to normal. Work was once again boring and mundane. I actually kind of missed all the demons and shit. And I missed sleeping. The nightmares were getting worse. The bags under my eyes were big enough to lug Alfred's Monster Energy Drink tabs collection that lived on his bedroom floor. I only had 2 more hours before work.


	37. Chapter 37

"You look like hell warmed over."

"Eat a dick."

Toris went back to pricing the clearance items. He barely ever spoke to me unless Alfred was around. It was easy to see why. Not all of us were blessed with endless charm and stupidity. I propped my head up with my hand so I wouldn't get in trouble for sleeping at the register. Ivan was in today and didn't have Liz with her drama or Alfred with his clumsiness to distract him. We had a new girl who just started this past week but she seemed to have the boss wrapped around her finger.

"What do you think about Nat?"

"Who?"

"The new girl. She seems kind of nice."

"Nice?! Are you retarded? She looks like she would shank a bitch in a heartbeat!"

Toris grew silent again. Hopefully for good. I started checking an elderly hippie out. When I saw the word "Ouija" written across one of the boxes, I retracted my hand. Fuck no.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of these things?"

The old woman chuckled to herself like a fucking witch. I could see Ivan watching me from across the store. I grabbed scanner wand so I wouldn't have to touch it. The Hippie thankfully put the box in her bag herself while still chuckling at me. Whatever. At least my ass wasn't getting possessed.

"Have you heard about Arthur lately?"

"Why are you still talking to me?"

"Why do you have to act so bitchy to everyone?"

"Say that to my fucking face!"

"I just did."

I blinked and I was on top of Toris bashing his face in. The new girl came up from behind me and put me in a headlock. She didn't let go until I went limp from oxygen deprivation. Crazy bitch.


End file.
